The game's filled to the brim with these! Some things are obviously based off something, some are a tad less visible shoutouts.
- Delinquent Cat is a blatant reference to Jotaro Kujo, even using a Stand-like attack and being able to stop time for certain types of enemies.
- Catman is obviously a shoutout to Batman.
- The Wild West-themed Cat Gunslinger evolves into Cat Eastwood upon reaching level 10.
- The evolved form of Kotatsu Cat, Sadako Cat, is a plain reference to Sadako Yamamura from the film adaptation.
- All of the evolved Nekoluga family cats' names reference a Japanese belief about Kesaran Pasaran, a spirit inhabiting a flock of weeds.
- The True Form of Dom Cat
◊ prefers the Dark side of the Force. The Cat version of Dark Lazer even has a blue lightsaber, just like how the films show good characters with blue lightsabers and evil characters with red ones. Also, evolved Princess Kaguya is called the Death Moon and is of very familiar appearance
, along with Cats in a Box's True Form, Heavy Assault C.A.T.
- Croco's description references Crocodile Dundee.
- The penguin enemy that loves kung-fu movies and is a serious kung-fu enthusiast is named Jackie Peng.
- The Teacher Bear enemy is a clear shoutout to Pedobear, both through his looks and description.A kindergarten teacher. He LOVES children. Not related to a certain other bear. No one knows his real name.
- J.K. Bun Bun's name is a reference to J. K. Rowling, and his description includes his books Punishment and Prejudice and Les Pénitents.
- A crowned Alien variant of Pigge is named Elizabeth the LVIth.
- An alien variation of a Bore has Spock's trademark haircut and is named Nimoy Bore. You couldn't make it any more transparent.
- The stage where you battle the Metal Cyclone is called Attack on Titanium.
- Similarly, the Zyclone's stage is named The Rolling Dead.
- Rain D., a reindeer that "hates Red", is probably a reference to Rudolph. Later on, there's a Red variant of the enemy, complete with a red nose, called Blitzen.
- Director Kurosawah is known for copying the very famous movie director.
- The enemies based off of sea angels all have references to Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact, the English name for one of them is 'Cruel Angel Clionel', a nod to the theme song of the anime.
- Among other things, you have Thor Cat, Cupid Cat, Valkyrie Cat, Bahamut Cat, Bodhisattva and Avalokitesvara Cats, Angelic Sleipnir for an enemy, and a set of cats based on Japanese mythology, various other myths, and war history.
- Apple Cat's True Form is the iCat, and the cat inside who pops up when attacking is dressed like a certain software pioneer.
- Catasaurus, the True From of Jurassic Cat, rides a familiar-looking dinosaur that it met "...in a magical land of fungi". It even does the flutter kick when it attacks!
- Daboo of the Dead bears a striking resemblance to Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- Hermit Cat from the Heavenly Tower event resembles Korin, a hermit character from Dragon Ball.
- The appearance of Kasa Jizos evolved form, Jizos Moving Castle, is based of off Howls Moving Castle.
- There is a Cat Combo named Jibbly Studio and the cats found in the combo are The Flying Cat (Who, by himself, already references Castle in the Sky), Mythical Titan Cat and Witch Cat.
- The last stage in the Walk of Fame Subchapter is called Multiversal Studios
- There is a subchapter named Mouseyland, which is a reference to Disneyland.
- Dartanyans name is a reference to Dartagnan. The same case also goes for Darktanyan.
- The attack animation of Mr. Mole looks suspiciously like a Shoryuken. Also, Shoryuken translates to Rising Dragon Fist in English, while the technique used by Mr. Mole is called Rising Mole Fist, further solidifying the reference.
- The enemy Corporal Weyland, an Alien type variant of the earlier enemy Mr. Mole, is a reference to a character from Alien.
- The doll that Puppetmaster Cat carries in his True Form
looks a lot like Chucky.
- All of the Nekolugas' true forms are this:
- Ultralan Pasalan, the True Form of Nekoluga, got tired of scaring children, so he reinvented himself as that famous masked hero.
- Tecoluga's True Form, Lufalan Pasalan, resembles a straw-hatted pirate of some kind. But we can't really be sure.
- Is Assassinlan Pasalan, Asilugas True Form, a cat? Or an extremely dramatic assassin of some kind?
- Togelugas True Form, Shishilan Pasalan, is an ancient god who bridges the worlds of the living and the dead.
- Balalugas True Form, Piccolan Pasalan, is said to be an unknown extraterrestrial lifeform of unimaginable power. Or is it just a really weird cat?
- Kubilugas True Form, E. Kubilan Pasalan, is a mighty sumo wrestler who sharpened his skills by fighting on the streets.
- Nobiluga's True Form, Mysticlan Pasalan, resembles the hero of Dragon Quest V.
- The face of Elder Sloth
looks quite similar to the face
of the River God
- All of Cat Gods poses all reference a piece of art. They also have a thing in common, that being that theyre all references to Michelangelos work.
- The normal pose of Cat God
is a reference to Adams pose
◊ in The Creation of Adam, the difference between the two being that their leg positions are different.
- In CotC 2, he takes this pose
, which is similar to the David statue.
- Finally, in CotC 3, the pose he makes
is similar to a pose found in The Last Judgement
◊.
- The normal pose of Cat God
- The machine that Time Traveller Cat is using is very similar to Doraemons own time machine
.
- All of the Galaxy Gals, save for the Twinstars and Headmistress Jeanne, all reference something.
- Thundia and Windy reference Raijin and Fujin respectively. To add to the reference, Thundia has a circular contraption behind her, which is supposed to symbolize Raijin's Thunder Drums, and Windys vacuum cleaner is supposed to be Fujins wind bag.
- Kuu, Kai and Coppermine all reference characters from Journey to the West. Specifically, they reference Sun Wukong (She wields a pillar that can change size, rides on top of a mechanical cloud and has a circlet on her head), Zhu Wuneng (Rides a mechanical pig and thats it) and Sha Wujing (The U.F.O-like object on her head is supposed to be like the plate on top of a Kappas head) respectively. There was also a now deleted combo featuring the three of them named Journey to the West.
- Kalisas design is quite similar to Hatsune Mikus.
- Myrcia's design resembles Claire Harvey's.
- According to Beefcake Cats description, when paired with legs that can float like a butterfly, it really stings like a bee!
- Evil Cats Japanese name is Wagahai wa onidearu, which references I Am a Cat.
- The Doll Cats True Form is a blatant reference to Aladdin.
- The True Form of Curling Cat, Green Shell Cat, looks identical to a Green Shell/Koopa Shell. Its description even references the Homing Projectile properties of the Red Shell (although the shell itself is green.)
- Legend Quests title design looks similar to Dragon Quests.
- The Meow Medal for completing all the stages in the Ghostly Houseguests event is named Who You Gonna Call?.
- The base designs of certain Cats of the Cosmos stages usually have some references in them.
- The base design of Skelling
is a person wearing a Darth Varder-esque helmet. To take the reference further, the treasure for this stage is named The Force.
- Altair's base design
has an eagle wearing a white hood which, combined with the name of the stage, references Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from Assassin's Creed I.
- Kaiou's base design
has a few pinkish colored balls with a different number and arrangement of stars on each of them.
- The base design of Skelling
- Zollow's attack animation is very reminiscent of the way a Dry Bones from Super Mario Bros. falls apart.
- Chronos Japanese name is Chronos Trigger.
- Catorpedo, the evolved form of Meowla Meowla, looks suspiciously like a Bullet Bill.